The Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal have partnered to produce the first guide for hospitals on best practices for care of transgender patients.

Creating Equal Access to Quality Health Care for Transgender Patients: Transgender-Affirming Hospital Policies has been designed to assist hospitals to not only align with the best practices in the field for transgender patients but also to comply with legal and regulatory mandates. The new publication also helps answer a number of questions about trans patients, outlines how to reduce insensitivity and bias, and addresses issues such as bathroom access and registration procedures.

“Improvements in policies and practices, together with greater transgender competency on the part of health care personnel, will make hospitals truly welcoming for transgender people, rather than places to be feared,” Dru Levasseur, director of the Transgender Rights Project at Lambda Legal, wrote in a blog post on LambdaLegal.org. “This long-awaited publication will play an important role in eliminating health disparities for transgender people, providing them with patient-centered care, and ensuring equity in the nation’s health care system.”